How would you deal with rising tuition costs?

There’s a chance that tuition policy at state universities might be drastically altered in the coming years, especially considering waning funding and escalating demand by potential students.

National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges released recommendations today on how some aspects of higher education should change in the face of rising tuition. Those recommendations include actively shifting the tuition discussion to “investment” instead of “the consumer purchase,” and a move to greater online offerings to cut down on cost.

If you have a few extra hours, here’s a link to the 90-page report. The executive summary starts on page nine.

“The beginning of the report — consistent with efforts by others in higher education — tries to shift public attention away from colleges’ sticker prices and broad generalizations about affordability, arguing that sticker prices rarely reflect what students actually pay and that affordability depends both on the charges of a college and the means of a student, and is thus unique for individual circumstances. The report then goes on to suggest that much is unknown about whether colleges can save money through various means — such as providing more instruction online — and suggests that now is the time for serious research on such questions. The report faults universities for not having the data that would allow for better decision making.”